Better Or Worse? | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Better Or Worse?

phinsforlife

phinsforlife

Super Donator
Club Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2022
Messages
1,642
Reaction score
3,215
Age
47
Location
san diego
I think they emerged from round one of free agency in OK shape. Still work to do in the trenches, which matters, especially against better teams and in the playoffs. But so far, they seem to be in a decent spot, and still the draft and potentially more FA moves to come if cash frees up. Thoughts on below as to where we stand as of right now?

Linebacker: I think better. Lost Baker, added Jordyn Brooks and Antony Walker. Walker could be a sneaky good pickup. Issue with him is injury, but at this price, good risk/reward.

TE: Better. Smith is a nice addition, fits well into the offense, and they lost nobody, so this is a straight out net plus.

CB: Better. Fuller was a nice pickup (I hope). Xavien Howard had degraded to a mediocre football player and is also an injury risk. Still unsigned also, tells you what the rest of the NFL thinks of him. Plus a chance Cam Smith plays and emerges with the new DC. PS Iggy just got signed by the Commanders. Suckers!!!!!

WR: I guess somewhat worse, but in an immaterial sense. Lost Ced Wilson, net/added nobody (Berrios was here last year), but it doesn't matter. Still need to pick up a better #3, so at the end of the day they may upgrade here. Also will Tyreek get restructured or extended? Side note, I worry about extending Tyreek, he seems like a powder keg. Every other day we seem to be reading about him being on the verge of getting into real trouble. Another story out today.

DT: Worse. Lost Wilkins and Davis, added a bunch of scrubs. Thankfully it is a less critical position in the modern NFL. Yes they will be more rotational, but still we lost a horse and replaced him with a bunch of pony's.

OL: Worse. Lost Hunt and Williams, added Brewer, who is questionable as a pass blocker. Work to do here as lost two, added one, who in expectation is not as good as either of the guys they lost.

Safety: Slightly worse. Lost Elliot and Brandon Jones. Added Poyer. Although I am tempted to call this an upgrade because of Rachel Bush, we lost two and added one. Poyer seems to be an average football player now and somewhat of an injury risk. The offset is his experience, so if he stays healthy, there is a chance for him to have a really good year paired with Holland. But for the time being, have to say slightly worse given the two for one.

Edge: Slightly worse. Lost Van Ginkel, added Barrett. I think this was their biggest goof of FA, because Van Ginkel remains under-rated, and we lost him on a pretty cheap deal, which also would have kept him here for a few years. Dolphins are in a tough spot here because Chubb and Phillips will come back, so cannot devote too much more in the way of resources to edge. I suspect they pick up one more older vet on the cheap. Having said that, the sun-sentinel is out today claiming both Chubb and Phillips could be close to ready for the season opener, which is really good news and would take a lot of pressure off: https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2024/0...oth-could-be-100-healthy-for-dolphins-opener/

QB: TBD. This is more of a question of what they do with Tua's deal.
 
Last edited:
phinsforlife said:
I think they emerged from round one of free agency in OK shape. Still work to do in the trenches, which matters, especially against better teams and in the playoffs. But so far, they seem to be in a decent spot. Thoughts on below?

Linebacker: I think better. Lost Baker, added Jordyn Brooks and Antony Walker. Walker could be a sneaky good pickup. Issue with him is injury, but at this price, good risk/reward.

TE: Better. Smith is a nice addition, fits well into the offense, and they lost nobody, so this is a straight out net plus.

CB: Better. Fuller was a nice pickup. Xavien Howard had degraded to a mediocre football player and is also an injury risk. Still unsigned also, tells you what the rest of the NFL thinks of him.

WR: I guess somewhat worse, but in an immaterial sense. Lost Ced Wilson, net/added nobody (Berrios was here last year), but it doesn't matter. Still need to pick up a better #3, so at the end of the day they may upgrade here. Also will Tyreek get restructured or extended?

DT: Worse. Lost Wilkins and Davis, added a bunch of scrubs. Thankfully it is a less critical position in the modern NFL. Yes they will be more rotational, but still we lost a horse and replaced him with a bunch of pony's.

OL: Worse. Lost Hunt and Williams, added Brewer, who is questionable as a pass blocker. Work to do here as lost two, added one, who in expectation is not as good as either of the guys they lost.

Safety: Slightly worse. Lost Elliot and Brandon Jones. Added Poyer. Although I am tempted to call this an upgrade because of Rachel Bush, we lost two and added one. Poyer seems to be an average football player now and somewhat of an injury risk. The offset is his experience, so if he stays healthy, there is a chance for him to have a really good year paired with Holland. But for the time being, have to say slightly worse given the two for one.

Edge: Slightly worse. Lost Van Ginkel, added Barrett. I think this was their biggest goof of FA, because Van Ginkel remains under-rated, and we lost him on a pretty cheap deal, which also would have kept him here for a few years. Dolphins are in a tough spot here because Chubb and Phillips will come back, so cannot devote too much more in the way of resources to edge. I suspect they pick up one more older vet on the cheap.

QB: TBD. This is more of a question of what they do with Tua's deal.
Click to expand...
Good post. Hopefully after June 1st cuts and X $$ we can upgrade some of those areas of need.
 
phinsforlife said:
I think they emerged from round one of free agency in OK shape. Still work to do in the trenches, which matters, especially against better teams and in the playoffs. But so far, they seem to be in a decent spot. Thoughts on below?

Linebacker: I think better. Lost Baker, added Jordyn Brooks and Antony Walker. Walker could be a sneaky good pickup. Issue with him is injury, but at this price, good risk/reward.

TE: Better. Smith is a nice addition, fits well into the offense, and they lost nobody, so this is a straight out net plus.

CB: Better. Fuller was a nice pickup (I hope). Xavien Howard had degraded to a mediocre football player and is also an injury risk. Still unsigned also, tells you what the rest of the NFL thinks of him.

WR: I guess somewhat worse, but in an immaterial sense. Lost Ced Wilson, net/added nobody (Berrios was here last year), but it doesn't matter. Still need to pick up a better #3, so at the end of the day they may upgrade here. Also will Tyreek get restructured or extended?

DT: Worse. Lost Wilkins and Davis, added a bunch of scrubs. Thankfully it is a less critical position in the modern NFL. Yes they will be more rotational, but still we lost a horse and replaced him with a bunch of pony's.

OL: Worse. Lost Hunt and Williams, added Brewer, who is questionable as a pass blocker. Work to do here as lost two, added one, who in expectation is not as good as either of the guys they lost.

Safety: Slightly worse. Lost Elliot and Brandon Jones. Added Poyer. Although I am tempted to call this an upgrade because of Rachel Bush, we lost two and added one. Poyer seems to be an average football player now and somewhat of an injury risk. The offset is his experience, so if he stays healthy, there is a chance for him to have a really good year paired with Holland. But for the time being, have to say slightly worse given the two for one.

Edge: Slightly worse. Lost Van Ginkel, added Barrett. I think this was their biggest goof of FA, because Van Ginkel remains under-rated, and we lost him on a pretty cheap deal, which also would have kept him here for a few years. Dolphins are in a tough spot here because Chubb and Phillips will come back, so cannot devote too much more in the way of resources to edge. I suspect they pick up one more older vet on the cheap.

QB: TBD. This is more of a question of what they do with Tua's deal.
Click to expand...
I don't get why we haven't resigned Kendall Lamm. He was decent last year and would be good depth.
 
Wouldn't cost much to re-sign i would think. O line needs major upgrades.
 
We haven’t lost Williams yet. He remains unsigned.
 
ForksPhin said:
We haven’t lost Williams yet. He remains unsigned.
Click to expand...
Yes, but for the purposes of this thread, he is still not here. He is now no different than all the other guys out there that are unsigned. Sadly, he sounds badly injured, and it is unclear if he is coming back for anyone, and how good he will be. TBD I guess, but for the time being sadly he is not a Miami Dolphin. The nice thing is if he heals up, and returns to prior form, he is both a center or a guard, so would fit back in nicely. My guess is they re-sign Isiah Wynn, who was really good, but he always gets hurt.
 
phinsforlife said:
Yes, but for the purposes of this thread, he is still not here. He is now no different than all the other guys out there that are unsigned. Sadly, he sounds badly injured, and it is unclear if he is coming back for anyone, and how good he will be. TBD I guess, but for the time being sadly he is not a Miami Dolphin. The nice thing is if he heals up, and returns to prior form, he is both a center or a guard, so would fit back in nicely. My guess is they re-sign Isiah Wynn, who was really good, but he always gets hurt.
Click to expand...
Your right. From reports it isn't looking good for Williams which is why he hasn't been on any teams radar as of now.
 
We still have work to do going back original thread topic.
 
There will be quality vets still available post June 1 when we get Howard’s cap space. We are fine going into the draft mostly with what we have, and filling in the remaining gaps with vets after. I’d imagine they may still re-sign/sign a few cheap vets before the draft. Maybe Wynn.
 
The short-term / stop-gap nature of these signings leads me to believe that 2024 is going to be a "set the new course" kind of year. Hopefully we'll be able to pounce in the '25 and '26 drafts.

If Phase 1a was Flores and Phase 1b was the re-organization of the team under McDaniel, we're now venturing into Phase 2 which is mostly about building around a few core guys.

The foremost "core guy" is obviously be Tua. His skill(s) must be the centerpiece of this offense and by extension the team itself. We can't be one thing with Tyreek and another without. We can't have blasé performances in big games. We can't get waxed in tough conditions. We can no longer accept "not on the same page" as an excuse. This will now be a QB-driven team. The offense will now be where the experience, leadership and (most of the) big-money investments live: McDaniel, Tua, Tyreek, Waddle, OL, etc.


As for defense, I see 2024 being a year where the team sorts out what it has and where it wants to go: install the new defense, let the DC evaluate the pieces, let the edge guys get healthy, evaluate the two DTs you picked up for any long-term viability, decide what Cam Smith is, etc.

We know they believe in Sieler, Chubb and Brooks. The new addition at CB, Kendall Fuller, will hold down the edge until they find a younger boundary corner for the future (maybe the '25 draft).

The others are still up in the air. Holland and Phillips will be playing for contracts and need to get healthy. No explosive edge rusher coming off an Achilles tear is guaranteed anything. And if Holland wants to be paid like an elite Safety he needs to prove he is one. I honestly don't think he is. If we played hard-ball with Wilkins and Hunt, I could see us drawing a line with Holland, too. Safety is not a position where you need to over-spend, then again it's not a super-expensive investment either. As a Safety, Holland isn't negotiating for a $100M contract so he's not that much of a concern TBH. I'm more concerned about him staying healthy really.
 
Mello Yello said:
The short-term / stop-gap nature of these signings leads me to believe that 2024 is going to be a "set the new course" kind of year. Hopefully we'll be able to pounce in the '25 and '26 drafts.

If Phase 1a was Flores and Phase 1b was the re-organization of the team under McDaniel, we're now venturing into Phase 2 which is mostly about building around a few core guys.

The foremost "core guy" is obviously be Tua. His skill(s) must be the centerpiece of this offense and by extension the team itself. We can't be one thing with Tyreek and another without. We can't have blasé performances in big games. We can't get waxed in tough conditions. We can no longer accept "not on the same page" as an excuse. This will now be a QB-driven team. The offense will now be where the experience, leadership and (most of the) big-money investments live: McDaniel, Tua, Tyreek, Waddle, OL, etc.


As for defense, I see 2024 being a year where the team sorts out what it has and where it wants to go: install the new defense, let the DC evaluate the pieces, let the edge guys get healthy, evaluate the two DTs you picked up for any long-term viability, decide what Cam Smith is, etc.

We know they believe in Sieler, Chubb and Brooks. The new addition at CB, Kendall Fuller, will hold down the edge until they find a younger boundary corner for the future (maybe the '25 draft).

The others are still up in the air. Holland and Phillips will be playing for contracts and need to get healthy. No explosive edge rusher coming off an Achilles tear is guaranteed anything. And if Holland wants to be paid like an elite Safety he needs to prove he is one. I honestly don't think he is. If we played hard-ball with Wilkins and Hunt, I could see us drawing a line with Holland, too. Safety is not a position where you need to over-spend, then again it's not a super-expensive investment either. As a Safety, Holland isn't negotiating for a $100M contract so he's not that much of a concern TBH. I'm more concerned about him staying healthy really.
Click to expand...
well said. not really the main thrust of this thread, but i agree with you about holland, i think. he gets so much hype, but i watch the games, and never see much in the way of playmaking from him. i have no idea what to think. i don't watch the all-22, and there are a lot of football people that seem to think he is really good. so i have no idea what to tell you on this one, beyond the fact that i am perplexed by what i see versus what i am told
 
Holland is solid safety but I wouldnt give him top 3 safety money. Just my opinion.
 
phinsforlife said:
well said. not really the main thrust of this thread, but i agree with you about holland, i think. he gets so much hype, but i watch the games, and never see much in the way of playmaking from him. i have no idea what to think. i don't watch the all-22, and there are a lot of football people that seem to think he is really good. so i have no idea what to tell you on this one, beyond the fact that i am perplexed by what i see versus what i am told
Click to expand...

Totally agree.

You really have to tune out the Miami-centric sources to get a reasonable feel for someone. We have people who still talk about Tua as though he's a savior. The problem across the internet seems to be that content streams are targeting fanbases with pro-Team news. Within hours of a signing, there will be a YouTube video promoting somebody as a "steal" for the Dolphins. And the podcasters are generally worse with hyping up players as being perfect scheme-fits.

There's another thread that says we signed 2 TEs. One of those is a practice squad guy who won't make our roster. To me, that level of honesty is better. Then you're not surprised.

Rather than talk about Holland as an "elite" or "Top-3" safety why not be more honest? That way you're not distraught when someone else signs him. I didn't think Robert Hunt was perfect. I think the worst team with some of the worst leadership signed him to a hilariously egregious deal.

Rather than say, 'Grier found a $100M Guard' why not just say that (1) Hunt was a good prospect with a lot of physical advantages who we scooped up as he fell out of R1 and (2) the Panthers are really, really stupid to pay him what they did.

So I'm with you. I'll believe Jevon Holland is a difference-maker when I see it. Solid player? Sure. Elite safety who we couldn't fathom being without? Not so much.

If Jevon Holland is one of the best studs on your team...you need more talent. He's more of a solid player on a Super Bowl caliber team.

I think a lot of fans in here don't realize how talented the elite teams in the NFL really are.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom